Middle East

Documents & Texts from America.gov

17 November 2008
Palestinian Youth Center Shows U.S. Commitment to Mideast Peace

By David McKeeby
Staff Writer

Washington — While Middle East peace negotiations may dominate the headlines, the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership is helping to prepare a new generation of leaders essential to the successful establishment of a future Palestinian state, an undertaking that Under Secretary of State James K. Glassman says shows “the solid and continuing commitment of the United States government to the Palestinian people.”

Glassman, who serves as under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, joined Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and partnership co-chairs Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine, and Jean Case, chief executive officer of the Case Foundation, at the November 17 opening ceremony of a new youth development and resource center in the West Bank town of Beita. The center is the first of four that the partnership is working to expand. Also working on the expansion are the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Youth and Sports and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID.

“The partnership is working to create youth centers for Palestinian young people, promote job creation projects, and encourage investment in the Palestinian economy,” Glassman said. “The kind of economic and social progress that the partnership is working to achieve is laying the foundation for a sustainable, prosperous and independent Palestinian state.”

The four primary centers, along with a network of more than 60 affiliated youth centers across the West Bank, will be able to deliver services to more than 7,500 Palestinian youths. The centers will provide young Palestinians with Internet connections and training in information technology, English language classes and sports and recreation programs. The centers also provide leadership and life skills training to enable participants to take on future career challenges and become full and productive participants as citizens and leaders in their communities, Glassman said.

Created in the weeks following the November 2007 Annapolis Conference by President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore, the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership is a unique mix of U.S. government agencies and American businesses, as well as nonprofit organizations and other private sector entities dedicated to helping the Palestinian Authority promote new economic opportunities and build new governing institutions.

U.S. development aid for the Palestinian Authority is a key pillar of the Annapolis process that complements U.S. support for ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks; efforts to implement the Quartet “Roadmap” of security and confidence-building measures developed by the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States; and diplomatic outreach initiatives to encourage other nations in the region to take part in building peace.

Glassman also announced a new State Department–sponsored exchange program that will enable senior managers of the Palestinian youth centers to travel to Washington and Atlanta, where they will partner with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for hands-on training in developing youth programs, managing facilities and finance and making the youth centers a true part of their local communities by working with volunteers and engaging parents. The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, which make up a leading youth services nonprofit organization, have delivered recreational, academic and other services for more than 100 years to some 4.8 million American children at more than 4,300 youth centers located in all 50 states and on U.S. military bases worldwide.

In the belief that a stable economy creates hope, opportunity and a climate for peace, the partnership supports Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad’s efforts to attract international investment by developing quick-impact projects to promote job creation in the West Bank. While in the region, Glassman’s delegation will also meet with public and private sector leaders to discuss additional investment opportunities and explore promising commercial enterprises in the West Bank.

“The work of the U.S-Palestinian Partnership demonstrates that, America, writ large, not just the government, but our entire nation and our citizenry, will welcome the Palestinian people into the community of nations,” Glassman said.

The text of an official statement about the event is available from America.gov.

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